The present invention relates generally to tools for mounting and positioning tile facing, and more particularly to such a tool that includes a strip having a plurality of ledges for positioning tiles and tile cement thereon.
Installation of tile floors and walls has long been a painstaking, expensive process. While various methods of installing and aligning tile have developed over many years, improvements in speed and efficiency are always welcomed by the industry. One traditional method of installing tile favored by professionals begins by temporarily affixing a wooden slat or board to the wall upon which a tiled surface is desired. For example, an installer nails an elongate wooden slat upright on a wall. The wall surface may be any suitable backing, such as a traditional metallic mesh or lathe strung between the wall studs, cinder/concrete blocks, xe2x80x9cgreen board,xe2x80x9d etc. The installer next fills the entire wall surface, bounded laterally by the slat, with cement or mud. The installer then places a second slat at the opposite end of the work surface, parallel to the first slat. Once in place, a long flattened tool (for instance, a third slat, metal strip, or trowel) is placed across the gap between the upright slats, then pulled downward while kept in contact with both slats, scraping away excess mud to leave a relatively flat surface to which the tiles may be affixed. Finally, the slats are pulled from the wall. When the slats are pulled from the wall, a rough edge remains at the edge of the mud surface, or a gap where the mud-covered surface continues laterally beyond where the slat was placed.
Gaps can be filled with mud, however, an old problem plaguing tile installers has been how to appropriately finish the tile surface where a rough edge of mud remains after the slats are removed. One approach has been to incorporate tile pieces having a rounded edge that extends around the edge of the mud to rest against the wall underlying the mud layer. This method has been popular, however, there are significant drawbacks. The rounded pieces of tile, known as xe2x80x9cbullnosexe2x80x9d tile, tend to be expensive, and are unavailable in many less-popular tile styles. Moreover, when accompanying the traditional mud application method outlined above, the use of bullnose tile is very time consuming. In a second approach, the installer cuts thin pieces of tile, slivers, to place in the gap, and positions the slivers at approximately 90xc2x0 relative to the tiled surface, where they can extend to the wall underlying the mud layer. While the installer is not limited to styles provided by the manufacturer, since he cuts the slivers from the same stock used for the tile surface, a tremendous drawback to this approach is the time and expense required to fashion the slivers of tile with the necessary wet saw. The present invention is directed to one or more of the problems and shortcomings associated with the related art.
In one aspect, an alignment strip for tile is provided that includes an elongate strip member having a body with two extension edges. The extension edges are oriented substantially perpendicular to one another and positioned at opposite corners of the body. A first of the extension edges and a substantially perpendicular mud face of the body define a first ledge, and a second of the extension edges and a substantially perpendicular tile face of the body define a second ledge. The tile face has a layer of adherent material along the first ledge in a predetermined thickness, the thickness equal to a width of the mud face. An inner surface of the second extension edge aligns a plurality of tiles longitudinally along the second ledge.
In another aspect, a method of forming a tiled surface is provided. The method includes the steps of affixing a positioning strip to a structure, the positioning strip defining substantially right-angular first and second open channels, the channels sharing a common central edge, and applying a rough layer of adherent material to the structure, a portion of the layer filling the first channel. The method further includes the steps of positioning a blade in the second channel and passing the blade longitudinally along the second channel while maintained flush with a side of the second channel. Passing of the blade removes adherent material from the rough layer to leave a substantially uniformly thick finished layer in the first channel, a thickness of the finished layer defined by a width of a wall of the first channel. Finally the method includes the step of aligning a plurality of tiles along the second channel, edges of the tiles positioned substantially parallel an inside wall of the second channel, and a back of each tile contacting a portion of the finished layer.